Available: 08/01/12, Expires: 07/01/21
Our laboratory’s long-term goal is to connect genomics and pathogenesis for ocular adenovirus infections. Rapid growth in the number of whole adenovirus genomes in GenBank affords new opportunities to identify genomic correlates of tissue tropism and virulence. Members of the laboratory employ a full range of in vivo, in vitro, and in silico techniques, permitting us to answer questions ranging from how adenoviruses cause specific disease manifestations at the molecular level, to how new adenoviral pathogens evolve.
Available: 07/01/17, Expires: 06/30/20
Human adenoviruses within species D evolve principally through homologous recombination during co-infections. Recently, species D adenoviruses have undergone a rapid expansion, with severe consequences for infected patients. The student will develop in vitro models of viral co-infection to identify basic mechanisms of genetic recombination among human adenoviruses. This project may involve basic bioinformatics as well as wet bench methods.